The greatest impediment to reviving the
American dream is that Americans have lost confidence in their
ability to control their own destiny. A nation long noted for its
"can-do" spirit--for self-assurance often bordering on cockiness--has become mired in pessimism and self-deprecation.

It has become fashionable, indeed almost obligatory, to predict decline in America's economic strength and stagnation in
its standard of living. Those who view with alarm often voice
inconsistent fears. They worry that America's manufacturing
jobs will be lost to low-productivity countries like Mexico or
India, where unskilled peasants are willing to do repetitive jobs
for little money. At the same time, they predict that the United
States will be unable to keep up with high-productivity, high-
wage countries like Japan and the members of the European
Economic Community, whose workers are more skilled, factories

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